The Budget Fever

February is a month of unique characters - the days are less, the winter goes away and summer would show up. The month has always decided the financial prospect of India; hope you would have guessed that I am referring to the Union Budget. And here we are on the eve of the budget's day. The fever is on and the entire world is looking for the announcements and reforms. The excitement is so much this time, that even the astrologers have been predicting the budget.

Budget had always been a yearly festival of hiking the cost of commodities till the 90's. It was Dr.Manmohan Singh who changed this misconception when he was the Finance Minister in 1991. It was then, when the term "Dream Budget" evolved. From that day, every Finance Minister has tried to deliver a populist budget for India. FM has to think "out of the box" these days and finally come up with a spicy masala recipe that would cater to everyone's taste. And Mr.P.Chidambaram has always been too good in cooking this food.

In the recent years, people seem to have understood that Budget is influencing their daily life in some way of the other. Even a common man has some idea about the budget and he plans accordingly (purchase of a car or television, for instance) and this development is definitely encouragable. It is good that People and press are giving adequate imporance to the budget. And if you're a shareholder of some company, you would know the impact that a budget would cause to India Inc.

This year, The expectations are high on Mr.PC. Budegetting, as you would know, is not a easy task. FM has to decrease the deficit and consider the fact that the public impact is minimal. Tax cuts, reforms and hikes play a major role and the beauty lies when the budget comes out with a minimal effect to the public. The budget presentation becomes more complex on a coalition Government. FM has already requested the Left to be practical and to cooperate. Mr. Laloo has come up with a better railway budget which has many welcoming announcements. But, PC has a challenge to increase the GDP of India from 8% to 10% (not a dream, it's within reach), increase allocations and to cut down taxes. With the current challenges, my assumption is that the budget would be balanced but slightly populist.

Is there something that I can do a budget eve? Yes, you can. PRAY for Mr.PC.